It has been too long

Hello dear people!!!
Recife, Pernambuco, greets you along with me as I am here in a dark internet cafe on an unknown street that has ´Better Together´ by Jack Johnson playing on the stereo... Oh good language connections through music.

The group and I arrived yesterday afternoon to Recife where we dropped our luggage off and went straight to do some touring. Supposedly we saw the first synagogue to ever exist in the Americas. Recife is known as the Venice of Brasil... after hearing this, the reasoning was obvious. To the left and right water ran under bridges - homes and apartment buildings stood to each side, overlooking the rivers. Even just after being here for one full day, Recife already gives me a good feeling -- something more ´home-y´ and comfortable than the industrialized feel that Fortaleza gives off. There are more trees here, more green space in general is present to the eye.
This morning we met with a rabbi at a different synagogue. Initially I wasn´t sure why we were focusing so much on visiting a synagogue; the program has no Jewish emphasis... Then we were told that it was because the leaders wanted the group to see more how different religous groups and movements have formed communities here in the NE while still being ´minorities.´ The discussion was something of interesting... It is funny to note how many times the importance of things said can pass you by while trying to understand a different language... For example, today the rabbi was talking about eliminating hunger. He kept saying that he did not want to ´get political,´ but numerous times he emphasized how ´hunger would not exist if Israel´s neighbors would stop attacking them...´ My ears stood up seconds after processing these words. Following such comments, the rabbi went on to say something to the sort of ´There is discrimination, but in Brasil we are all one; if someone wants to do well and vencer, they can. (kind of sounds like the capitalist thought of ´pull yourself up by your bootstraps´... But what about the neoliberal politics that come in the way of such statements being true for society (especially for the marginalized)??
Hm...
Tomorrow we will be spending the day at an indigenous community. There we will see and learn about how social action is manifested among different communities.
In the back of my mind rests the knowledge that in already less than two weeks I will be going to the interior of Bahia (Vale do Capão) where I will stay three weeks by myself to do research about health and healing. I will attach my final independent research proposal to this email in case you want to get a better idea of what I will be doing.
I feel like I need some rural in me. Although, in a few days we will be in Salvador, Bahia, which is famous for its Afro-Brasilian movements and pride. So that area may be hard to leave but I think my time will be coming.
Alright, next time I won´t take so long to write.

Muito paz e abraços,

Anni/ka